Wizards Insider: February 20, 2011 - February 26, 2011

Josh Howard will face his former team for the first time since he was traded from Dallas to Washington before the trade deadline last season. "He'll be emotional," Coach Flip Saunders said. "It'll be the first time. We talked a little bit before, he said, 'I just want to win....

We're going to have to wait another year to go head-to-head again, Josh. (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images) Caron Butler crumbled to the floor, grabbed his right knee and rolled over in agony. He angrily slapped the court at Bradley Center, realizing immediately that the injury was serious....

Andray Blatche is questionable against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday with a strained right hip. He missed the Wizards' 121-113 loss in Miami after getting injured in the third quarter in Philadelphia, but he had an adventurous day nonetheless. Reports circulated about an alleged Twitter beef in which someone using...

I may not drop dimes, but I drop buckets. (By Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) John Wall's first game against Miami's SuperFriends got off to an unusual start. On the opening tip, Heat center Erick Dampier knocked the ball about 47 feet over his head and it went out of bounds....

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld spoke with reporters at Verizon Center to discuss the recent trade with Atlanta Hawks that yielded Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans, Jordan Crawford and a first-round draft pick. He offered an assessment of the team and the course that it plans to take going forward. Gene Wang...

Andray Blatche will not play as he recovers from a right hip strain suffered in the second of the Wizards' loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday. New Wizards Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans and Jordan Crawford are expected to debut tonight, as the team attempts to snap a three-game losing streak. The...

The paperwork for the Wizards' trade deadline deal with Atlanta was completed on Friday afternoon, so Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans and Jordan Crawford will be in uniform when the team plays the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. The three players took a red-eye flight from Phoenix and joined the...

The Wizards were supposed to be focused on starting out their first game with new arrivals Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans and Jordan Crawford, but as they prepared to face the Miami Heat on Friday, some comments on the Twitter account of forward Andray Blatche have provided another unnecessary distraction. Blatche...

The trade deadline passed with a flurry of deals. Just yesterday, these deals transpired: -- Celtics sent Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to the Oklahoma City Thunder for ex-Hoya Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. -- Clippers sent Baron Davis to Cleveland for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. -- Bobcats sent...

The newest Wizards -- Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans and Jordan Crawford -- are expected to debut against the Miami Heat on Friday night at American Airlines Arena. They left Phoenix and joined the Wizards in Miami on Thursday and will be asked to help a team that has lost three...

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Mike Bibby is upset about leaving a playoff team in Atlanta to join a lottery team in Washington and is interested in receiving a buyout. But while the topic has been discussed internally, a league source said Bibby would have to...

Barring something miraculous, the Wizards are done dealing. The Kirk Hinrich move will serve as the last trade before the deadline arrives in about 10 minutes. Be back with a wrap-up in a few. You guys satisfied?...

The Wizards dealt Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong to Atlanta last night in exchange for Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans, Jordan Crawford and a 2011 first-round pick. The team then proceeded to get blown out by the 76ers. After the game, John Wall openly questioned the competitiveness of his teammates. It...

I don't think I can come to Philadelphia without something crazy happening anymore. I missed the Wizards' game at Wells Fargo Center in Jan. 5, which was only amusing in that it added another double-digit road loss to the ledger. Is this why you're mad? (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) But the...

The Wizards have traded veteran point guard Kirk Hinrich to the Atlanta Hawks. Two league sources have confirmed that the Wizards are shipping Hinrich and backup center Hilton Armstrong to Atlanta in exchange for guard Mike Bibby, veteran swingman Maurice Evans, rookie guard Jordan Crawford and a first-round pick this...

The Wizards have lost two in a row and 11 of their past 13 games overall. They are just 1-26 on the road, but they are hoping to win to the season series against the Philadelphia 76ers after winning the first two games at home and losing the last meeting...

With close to 24 hours left before the NBA trade deadline, there have already been two major moves with the Utah Jazz shipping Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets the day after the Denver Nuggets traded Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks. The East Coast is inhaling talent...

The Wizards' listless loss to the Pacers last night was disheartening in many ways. As Gene Wang wrote in today's newspaper: So dispiriting was Washington's 113-96 loss to Indiana that boos began raining down at Verizon Center midway through the third quarter. Even the most loyal supporters among the announced...

The Wizards may not be silent at the trade deadline, but they aren't aggressively looking to make deals, based on some conversations that I've had with front office executives and agents. An Eastern Conference general manager who recently spoke with the Wizards said the team didn't appear open to making...

The Washington Wizards have been through plenty of rough patches during this rebuilding season, but last night's 113-96 loss to Indiana was especially disheartening given the lack of effort. What's more, the Wizards had nearly five days off to rest during the all-star break yet displayed little energy in their...

Shortly before tip-off of tonight's game against Indiana, Wizards Coach Flip Saunders talked about using more of his reserves in light of the all-star break layoff. The thought was that the nearly five days of inactivity would cause players to tire quicker in their first game back, thus impelling significant...

The Wizards open the final portion of their season against the Indiana Pacers at Verizon Center to kick off four games in five nights comprising two sets of back-to-backs. Washington is 1-1 this season against Indiana, with each team winning at home. The Pacers currently occupy the eighth and final...

Now that the All-Star Weekend afterglow has faded, it's back to the regular grind for the Wizards as they prepare to play the Indiana Pacers tonight at Verizon Center. How do you see the rest of the season going? Commenter bulletsfan78 sees things this way: 28 games to go and...

JaVale McGee dunked three balls at one time and two balls on two baskets, but even those feats weren't enough to lift the Wizards center to victory in the NBA dunk contest on Saturday night at Staples Center. Clippers rookie Blake Griffin instead claimed the first-place trophy. His winning dunk...

Following nearly five full days off during the all-star break, the Washington Wizards aren't exactly easing back into their schedule. Not only are they playing four games over the next five nights as part of two back-to-back sets, but the opponents all are playoff teams. It's quite a way to...

You know everybody is going to say you're coming to my team, 'Melo. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson) The East is a beast, and will be for a while, now that Carmelo Anthony finally got his wish to join the New York Knicks. After months of mind-numbing speculation, rumors of imminent deals...

It's all yours when I'm gone. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) Kevin Durant maintains his humility, but he is starting to abandon that aw-shucks, happy-to-be-here stance when he is surrounded by the league's best players. He used to say that he wasn't in the same class as superstars Kobe Bryant, LeBron...

And a one, and a two. (AP Photo/Mark Ralston) Blake Griffin certainly had the most choir-singing, scene-stealing, crowd-screaming, show-stopping, car-hopping dunk of the night. But overall, he was probably the third-best dunker in Staples Center on Saturday. Griffin was the most entertaining -- which is what the dunk contest...